Let’s get physical; camping and hiking

Let’s get physical! is this weeks Beauty Detox blog assignment and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Actually since I started blogging with The Beauty Detox community all the assignments seem to come at the perfect time for me. When I contemplated whether I would blog or not I knew that if I did I would always make sure to come from a place of inspiration, since that moment I decided to blog that is exactly what has been happening and I couldn’t be more thankful!

Taking a moment to talk with the trees.

For me getting physical is an everyday thing when you are running around after 3 young children. On this particular weekend when this assignment came out it was my birthday weekend and my husband surprised me with a 2 night stay at a yurt in one of the provincial parks close by.

This is me with our camping gear at the yurt.

We stayed at yurt # 3 on my 33rd birthday, oh did I mention I love numerology and this spoke mountains to me.

The yurt is located in one of the 15 provincial parks here in Manitoba, it has a nice beach and a ton of hiking trails. The one thing I love the most is a getaway into the wild where I can reconnect with nature. To help me remember my journey is alive and important.

The province of Manitoba and the 15 provincial parks, we were at #13 Spruce Woods.

It has been a very busy summer of activities with the kids but this one was for me and it all couldn’t have come at a better time. My birthday, an almost full moon and summer is officially over and the routine of school has once again commenced, meaning the parks would be empty and so quiet that you could feel like you owned the place.

Sunset walk on Isputinaw trail, 1.4km.

On our drive and for 3 days previous it had been raining and cold. It was an hour and a half drive to the yurt and by the time we arrived the clouds had started to clear and it even slightly warmed up, the weather just got better with each passing day. On our first evening there we went on a sunset hike and cooked our supper over the fire. My husband is completely on board with BDS. We had quinoa and vegetables stuffed in a Japanese pumpkin cooked over the fire.

Quinoa and vegetables stuffed in a Japanese pumpkin and cooked over the fire.

On our second day we went for a hike at Spirit Sands to the Devil’s punch bowl, it is a 7km hike through sand dunes and prairies and forest. It is truly quite amazing to see so many different terrains in one area. We saw many animals on our hike which represent different messages for me. I love following a book by Ted Andrews called Animal Speak. At the start of our walk we saw a garder snake so we picked him up and took a selfie.

Snake selfie!

I love this place, it has such calm energies.

We also saw a rare skink lizard, it is so small and quick it is amazing one even sees them at all. I have been coming to Spruce Woods for over 15 years and it was the first time I had ever seen one of these lizards. Actually we saw 2 and the second one let us spend time with him so I snapped a picture.

The skink lizard. He is about 2″ from mouth to tail. It is amazing to have spent time with him, he was curious and kind.

At one point when we were crossing the prairies these clouds rolled through in front of us and the thunder roared. Boy did it feel electrifying, like the clouds were talking to us.

Clouds passing through on our hike at Spirit Sands.

At the Devil’d punch bowl. My husband takes great photos.

Later that night we went on a 4 km moonlit walk through the woods and it was the highlight of my whole trip. My husband is a long distance truck driver so spending this kind of time wit him is priceless when we have so little time at this moment in our lives.

The moon and on the right is light from the yurt.

The next morning it was my birthday and it was time to pack up and leave, but first we eat cake! I will not divulge what kind teehee. After we finished eating cake I was ready to leave and go home to the 3 little loves and more awaiting my return. At the end of my short journey I felt reconnected, re balanced and relaxed as if I had just come from a spa. After supper with my beautiful family, the house was settled and quiet again and there was one last thing I enjoy doing when I come home from camping. Take a nice shower with a long hot bath with my favorite ingredients to soak in and my favorite mask. This night is organic Hawaiian mud mask. Yum!

I tried to smile for the camera but it doesn’t work well with dried mud on your face.

Eat more vegetables and less animal protein

For this Beauty Detox assignment I found it hard to write about only one of Kimberly Snyder’s Detox principles as all of them have revolutionized my health and my diet. The topic I chose to write about is ‘eat more vegetables and less animal protein’.

Fall veggie harvest

Simply delicious salad

For me this was easy as I do not like handling raw meat, it is the least appetizing kitchen prep for me. I find I am more creative and passionate when I am challenging myself to do a deliciously veggie filled salad or meal.

romain lettuce, homemade kraut, sprouts and strawberries

I used to enjoy the art of painting and since having children my ‘me’ time is almost non existent. So I take it where I can. Since discovering BDS I have quite happily added more veggies to my meals or as the whole meal and the time I get in the kitchen is for me.

Lightly sauteed beets leaves with zucchini and beans with fresh dill, garden goodness at it’s finest

I have found through adding more veggies that I thoroughly enjoy making my meals look like art pieces, it just seems to flow out of me making my head spin in joy.

You can use anything to complement a dish aesthetically, this is the lid from my vegetable steamer

A vegan taco butterfly

I always enjoy starting my meals with a huge salad and have gotten the kids in to the habit as well. Seeing the love and knowledge they have acquired since adding this principle in to our diet has done wonders in all areas of our health. Each family member has their own unique issues in health but by sticking to mainly vegetables at each meal it addresses them all.

left over taco salad with humus

Photo Opp: My Growing Beauties

Our Welcome sign from an old shovel handle and barn wood, painted by my daughter and I

Gardening is a huge passion of mine. I have been gardening since I was a little girl growing up on a farm. So for me when Kimberly Snyder announced that this weeks Beauty Detox assignment was a photo opp I knew it would be about my garden.

Coleus and decor at my front door

The completed bed. I used and old steel clothing rack as the trellis.

 I love companion planting, planting with the moon cycles and will grow anything that will sprout. I have even told my husband on numerous occasions that someday we will live in an atrium! 

The compost my husband built from reclaimed wood

My husband and I bought out first home in Oct 2013 in a small rural town across from the local school. It is a well established mature lot. Kinda a blank canvas. How lucky could I get. It is the house of my dreams and I am forever grateful for being so lucky as to own this home.

bursting at the seams

So I set out on a mission to make it even more amazing, but one thing I knew I would never do again was dig up dirt to have a garden. When my husband asked this spring what I wanted for mothers day I said dirt and wood so he could make a raised garden bed for me. 

kale harvested from my garden

parsley growing in a container

my cat Jane loves to follow me around when I work in the yard

When we built the first bed I knew it would be the first of many. Next year I plan on adding a minimum of 3 more raised beds with a walk way and sitting area.

My brother on his boat in British Columbia, he is a huge inspiration to me and is the epitome of this saying

I am fortunate to be a full time stay at home mom of 3 where I can freely teach my children about the importance and love of growing your own food. 

Happy tummies = happy kids

Green smoothies have become my all time favorite breakfast! Before green smoothies were introduced to me, I wouldn’t eat anything till lunch. I have never been much of a morning eater and I know that not eating in the morning robs me of my energy for the day.

It has been just over 2 years since I was introduced to the idea of drinking my greens for breakfast from Author and clinical nutritionist (CN) Kimberly Snyder and her book The Beauty Detox Solution. Since then I have involved my children in all my smoothie and juicing undertakings.

Creating a recipe for them helps them to feel important as to their specific wants and needs. I will definitely blog more on that another time. That is for winter months because right now is harvest time and there is too much in season to stick to the same old. So lets make fun with it.

It had been a couple of days since our last smoothie and my 5yr old daughter came up to me saying “my tummy feels sick, I need a green smoothie” so off we went to the garden and chose a few items and scoured the fridge for the rest. Having her help create the face and choose ingredients always makes it more fun. I will chop the fruit and vegetables while she puts them in the blender. Because of this she asks for smoothies instead of being told to drink it.

Green Smoothie Ingredients

Ingredients from the garden include:

Kale

green leaf lettuce

tomato

2 cucumbers

5 sage leaves (scarlette pineapple)

Other ingredients:

1 lemon

1 apple

1 peach

1 avocado

1 banana

Make sure the store bought ingredients are organic. I added between 500-750 ml of fresh water, then blend and serve. With this recipe my blender was bursting at the seams, it usually is when you try to fit 4 servings in one!

Once the smoothie was in my daughters belly she said it felt better.

Making smoothies with the children is fun and simple, getting them involved with the ingredients creates a life long bond to knowledge of food which is so important to pass on at these young ages. Now more than ever we need to take control of the food that is fed to our children, keeping them involved in the kitchen will insure love is provided in their relationship with food.

That is one happy smoothie!

Our abundance made with love